摘要：SummaryIn an attempt to explore the role of the gut microbiome during recent canine evolutionary history, we sequenced the metagenome of 13 canine coprolites dated ca. 3,600–3,450 years ago from the Bronze Age archaeological site of Solarolo (Italy), which housed a complex farming community. The microbiome structure of Solarolo dogs revealed continuity with that of modern dogs, but it also shared some features with the wild wolf microbiome, as a kind of transitional state between them. The dietary niche, as also inferred from the microbiome composition, was omnivorous, with evidence of consumption of starchy agricultural foods. Of interest, the Solarolo dog microbiome was particularly enriched in sequences encoding alpha-amylases and complemented a low copy number of the host amylase gene. These findings suggest that Neolithic dogs could have responded to the transition to a starch-rich diet by expanding microbial functionalities devoted to starch catabolism, thus compensating for delayed host response.Graphical abstractDisplay OmittedHighlights•Ancient DNA of Bronze Age canine coprolites from Solarolo was sequenced•Solarolo dogs share gut microbiome features with modern wolves and dogs•The gut microbiome of Solarolo dogs shows high number of reads for alpha-amylase•Neolithic canine gut microbiome complemented delay in host genome adaptationBiological sciences; Microbiome; Evolutionary biology; Evolutionary processes; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Evolutionary history; Genomic analysis; Sequence analysis; Omics; Genomics
